New hope for multiple sclerosis
By Jude H.
I was at work one day when everything started spinning. I lived in Montana then; we didn't have an OHSU, and the local hospital didn't know what was wrong. I got sent to place after place until I finally went to an eye doctor. He saw optic neuritis and sent me for an MRI. They told me, "The good news is, we know what your problem is. The bad news is, you have MS." I was 23, and didn't even know what that was.
I moved to Portland, where I'm the marketing director for the Hood to Coast relay. OHSU Sports Medicine is a sponsor, so I got to know Dr. Jim Chesnutt, director of the OHSU Sports Medicine program, and Jewell Sutton, who manages marketing for orthopaedics and neurosciences. I was getting my MS care elsewhere, but I remember thinking, "If the people at OHSU are this great as sponsors, what's it like when you're going to a doctor's appointment?" I also work with Nike, and know someone whose wife is treated for Parkinson's at OHSU. She's so happy with her care, I could only imagine what they were doing for MS.
My last straw was reading about a new MS treatment and taking the info to my then doctor. I knew she'd be skeptical, but she actually got angry at me for considering it. That's when I called OHSU. My first appointment with Dr. Yadav lasted all morning, because she sent me to a neuropsychologist, a physical therapist -- I think we had four other appointments because she found all these ways to help me. At the other clinic, my wife said I was like one of the cattle in the herd – get me in, get me out. OHSU was 100 percent different.
When I first saw Dr. Yadav, I had MS fatigue. It's far beyond what you experience after running a race. I'd work my hardest all day, and by 5 or 6, I'd be done. Outside work, I had no life. Dr. Yadav found a medication that worked for my fatigue and let me lead a normal life again. My insurance denied it, so now I'm fighting to get it back. On it, I rate my life as a 10 – off, it's a 3. But Dr. Yadav is trying something new in the meantime. Every time we hit a bump, she tries something else.
OHSU is a place that communicates like I do. They have MyChart, which lets me email back and forth with my doctor and get test results immediately. No calling, no waiting on hold forever – for someone who's working full time, it's amazing.
You hear OHSU and know they are big and prestigious, and think you could never go there. I'd say, take the time to make that first appointment because the care is amazing. Normally, with MS you expect to get worse and worse. It's a slow fight, but it looks like I'll only get better. I wouldn't tell my story unless I thought OHSU was the best.
